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Photographic Memory
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Movie Info

Filmmaker Ross McElwee finds himself in frequent conflict with his son, a defiant young adult who seems addicted to and distracted by the virtual worlds of the internet. To understand the growing distance between himself and his son, McElwee travels back to St. Quay-Portrieux in Brittany for the first time in decades to retrace his own journey into adulthood. He also hopes to track down his first employer, a photographer named Maurice, and Maud, a woman with whom he was romantically involved. Photographic Memory is a meditation on the passing of time, the praxis of photography and film, digital versus analog, and the fractured love of a father for his son. -- (C) Official Site

Some might characterize what filmmaker Ross McElwee does as navel-gazing. But in the hands of this veteran documentarian, that which might be self-indulgent egomania from a lesser artist is often the stuff of quiet revelation.

In the end, the camera in Photographic Memory is not so much roving as at ease with itself, moving at its own pace, not shambling but ambling along, content in its own small, personal, unassuming search for meaning.

In his latest film, the 65-year-old director retraces his postcollegiate wanderjahrs in France jobbing for a wedding photographer, in an earnest effort to understand his son Adrian, a headstrong, restless creative type and stunt skier.